Child Health Informatics Center

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Health Information Technology at the AAP

The American Academy of Pediatrics has been involved with Health Information Technology since mid-1980. The AAP’s HIT activities are currently supported by the Child Health Informatics Center (CHIC) and Council on Clinical Information Technology (COCIT)​. Both groups realize the importance for HIT to be designed, deployed, and managed effectively; thus work to maintain an imperative connection and integrate activities to support the AAP HIT mission and goals.

AAP HIT Goals

Build awareness about the importance of HIT as it relates to improved quality and efficiency of pediatric care.

Advocate for pediatricians' HIT needs by coordinating and communicating issues at the national level, including with the Office of the National Coordinator, policymakers, and selected HIT vendors.

Provide member resources and education about electronic health record adoption and implementation.

Support the translation and spread of knowledge for integration into electronic formats.

Focus Areas

The AAP has two core focus areas of its HIT activities including:

Effective Adoption and UseThe AAP works to support its members in the successful adoption and use of technology, including electronic health records, in a variety of pediatric care settings through the provision of assistance, support, tools and advocacy.

Research and DevelopmentThe AAP is seeking new knowledge about products, processes, and services to support the translation of content into various electronic formats.

From the Medical Director

"This is a challenging time for pediatricians and pediatric hospitals. The stimulus bill has made incentives available to implement electronic health records (EHRs) in pediatric practice and use them to improve child health. However, for pediatricians there are many unanswered questions including what is the right EHR for my practice?"

We hope the CHIC will be able support pediatricians in making difficult decisions and guide them in using technology to make pediatric care more effective, safe, and efficient.